Government Official Regions

There are nine official Government Office Regions in the country of England. These are:

1.The East Midlands 2.The East of England 3.Greater London 4.North East England 5.North West England 6.South East England 7.South West England 8.West Midlands 9.Yorkshire and the Humber

Nine official Government Office Regions in the country of England

These nine regions are the top of the sub-national government entities of the country. Only Greater London has a directly elected assembly, while the others have Local Authority Leaders’ Boards. Such boards have a limited amount of power, which is given them by the Central Government departments. The members of the boards are then elected by local government organisations. Greater London has the Greater London Authority over it and consists of an elected mayor and the London Assembly.

Each of the nine official regions also has its own regional minister in government, who works on a part-time basis to represent that region. The local government offices have responsibilities in the areas of employment, industry, transport, and so on.

Although England was divided into sections right through the ages, the dividing of it into administrative regions was first formally considered just before World War I would begin in 1914. Just two years before the beginning of the war, the Third Home Rule Bill was passed through Parliament. This bill was designed so that a devolved Parliament for Ireland could be introduced. However, as this was being done, it was considered appropriate that Great Britain would receive the same structures. Winston Churchill, an esteemed British politician, proposed four regions within England. This was never actually formalised, but was generally accepted. Splitting England up made population and demographic censuses, civil defence, supply of power, and so on much easier and more organised. It was only in the mid-1990’s that official regions were decided upon.

Each of the nine regions is divided into smaller subdivisions; such as boroughs, royal boroughs, metropolitan counties, unitary authorities and so on. Some of the sub-regions group socio-economic authorities together. These sub-regions are really only used for strategic planning purposes, though, as they have no official status in their own rights.

The nine official regions of England will be examined in more detail for a more holistic picture of how England is structured today.